Okay, so I wanted to get some better insight into what was happening in my Ionic app. I’d heard about “traces,” but honestly, I had no clue where to start. So, I rolled up my sleeves and dove in. Here’s how I fumbled my way through it:
Figuring Out What I Needed
First, I needed to understand what tracing even was. Turns out, it’s like leaving breadcrumbs in your code so you can see the path it takes and how long each step takes. This is super helpful for spotting slow spots or places where things are going wrong.
I use Sentry for error tracking, and I realized that they also handle performance monitoring and tracing! Since I was already familiar with Sentry, I decided to explore their stuff.
Getting My Hands Dirty with the Code
The first thing I did was install the necessary Sentry packages. I used npm for this, because, well, that’s what I always use. I went ahead and added these to the project:
@sentry/browser
@sentry/integrations
I had to add these to my file, so all of the components can be monitored correctly.
I just add import state to the top:
import as Sentry from '@sentry/browser';
import { Integrations } from '@sentry/tracing';
Then, add Sentry Initialization to the same file:
dsn: "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN", // I put my actual DSN here, of course
integrations: [
new *(),
tracesSampleRate: 1.0, // I set this to 1.0 to capture everything while testing. Might lower it later.
So, I had to go to the Sentry website, find my project, and grab the DSN. They make it pretty easy to find. I just copied and pasted that into my code.
Seeing the Magic (or Not)
At first, I didn’t see anything. Turns out, I needed to actually interact with my app to generate some traces. Duh! So, I clicked around, navigated between pages, and triggered some actions. Then, I went back to my Sentry dashboard.
Boom! There it was. I could see the different “transactions” (basically, user interactions) and how long each part took. I could even drill down and see the individual “spans” within each transaction, which showed me the timing for specific functions and API calls.
Tweaking and Refining
I noticed some automatic instrumentation that was not necessary, so I set it to false.
dsn: "YOUR_SENTRY_DSN",
integrations: [
new *({
tracingOrigins: ['localhost', /^//], // Only trace requests to my own app
beforeNavigate: context => {
return {
...context,
// You have fine control over the name of the transaction
name: *(//users/d+/, '/users/{id}'),
tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
Now it looks clean and ready to go!
Wrapping Up
It took a bit of trial and error, but I finally got Ionic traces working. It’s still a bit of a learning curve, but being able to see exactly what’s happening in my app, performance-wise, is a game-changer. I can now pinpoint those pesky slowdowns and make my app run smoother. I definitely recommend giving it a try if you’re serious about improving your Ionic app’s performance!
